Co-stars, Orlando theaters celebrate ‘Miss Sammy’
Holding candles aloft, friends and family gathered this week at the Orlando home of SamSinghaus to watch the sun set, as castmates from the performer’s Broadway run in “La Cage aux Folles” shared their memories and city institutions publicly marked the passing of “Miss Sammy.”
Both as himself and dressed in the best 1950s style as Miss Sammy, Singhaus graced Orlando stages and charity events for decades.
Singhaus, 62, died Monday from braincancer complications. As personal tributes flooded social media, public displays honored the Central Floridian loved as much for his charitable activism as his female impersonation.
“Sam lived an authentic and inspiring life, finding laughter and positivity eventhru the end, which should inspire us all,” wrote State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith on Facebook. The Center, an Orlando nonprofit that supports the LGBTQ community, lowered its flag to half-mast in Singhaus’ honor.
“Sam will forever live in our hearts, and The Center and all of Orlando are better because he was part of our family,” the organization posted on its Facebook page.
Local theaters, where Singhaus frequently performed, also celebrated his life.
“Thanks for the memories,” posted The Abbey, which proclaimed Miss Sammy “a true original” and wrote “You will be missed” on its downtown marquee.
“Rest in peace, Miss Sammy,” stated the marquee at Parliament House, home to the Footlight Theatre. That was where Singhaus first appeared in Orlando playwright Michael Wanzie’s hit “Ladies of Eola Heights.”
This week, Wanzie recalled how Singhaus inspired the long-running franchise.
Singhaus had asked his friend to write him a leading role, and Wanzie wanted to create something memorable that would play to Singhaus’ strengths.
“I dearly loved his clever and inventive novelty numbers he performed as Miss Sammy,” Wanzie recalled. “I found Sam’s physical comedy abilities as a pantomiming comedienne to be on par with that of Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.”
He put those skills to use by writing Singhaus as a deceased sibling of his play’s other characters; his beautiful spirit loomed large over the play’s dramatic proceedings while helping to lighten heavy plot lines.
But Singhaus was a pro at finding merriment in a situation — or making it himself. Just ask Cady Huffman, the Tony-winning actress who made her Broadway debut in “La Cageau xFolles” in1985, while Singhaus was in the show.
“Sam wa smy first Broadway friend,” she wrote via email. “We would go to his apartment
between shows to feed all his dogs, have slumber parties and sneak onto rooftops to look at the city.”
She recalls that his merriment occasionally mixed with mischief.
“He made my Broadway premiere particularly memorable by slipping a whoopee cushion under my fanny in Chez Jacqueline,” recalled Huffman, referring to a set used in thes how. “That was Sammy. Loving, mischievous and funny. Beautiful. Inside and out.”
Co-star and longtime friend David Scala remembered that Singhaus’ star quality was evident before the curtain ever rose.
“When it was the final audition at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for ‘La Cage,’ I looked around at the finalists,” he wrote. “I had met Sammy from all the auditions, but until we were all in drag for the first time— dancing, singing and doing whatever else we needed to do to get the gig … I said to myself, ‘This boy has got it all.’”
Singhaus’ effervescent personality and million-watt smile helped with “charming the socks off of the likes of Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Harvey Fierstein,” Scala wrote. “Not bad, huh?”
But Singhaus didn’t need the sparkles and spangles of “La Cage” or the company of showbiz celebs to be the life of the party.
“He had legions of friends, family and chosen family who were equally enamored of Sam, the man, and Miss Sammy, the lip-syncing hostess. No one was ever disappointed to open the front door and find either of them standing there,” Wanzie wrote. “And this, I honestly feel, is one of the greatest components of Sam ‘Miss Sammy’ Singhaus’ legacy.”